


Summers in Seattle

by Emony



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-09
Updated: 2010-01-09
Packaged: 2017-10-06 01:24:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emony/pseuds/Emony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Summers family is more complicated than you might expect, and it's about to throw up some of those complications.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summers in Seattle

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted as an eight part series for an spn_btvs challenge.  
> First posted 25 April 2007 - 03 May 2007.

**Prologue - The Last Night**

 

Dawn stopped in her tracks, hovering outside the door to the living room. They were arguing again, she almost moved on, not wanting to listen to Mommy and Daddy shouting at each other again, she really wished that they would stop. The she heard another voice, _Buffy!_ Oh, boy, this was going to be good, looked like her big sister was in deep trouble again.

The door was open slightly, time for some Harriet the Spy action, she stood in just the right position, she could see Mommy and Daddy _and_ Buffy all from one spot. _And_ they couldn't see her. Perfect.

"That's just it Buffy! That was the last time."

"But, Dad!"

"No buts Buffy. We are not going to put up with this anymore young lady."

It looked like Buffy had done something really, _really_ bad this time. Daddy was shouting really a lot.

"Mom?"

"Listen to your father, Buffy."

"But, you know I'm not making it up. Aunt Ellen-"

"No, Buffy. Whilst I don't agree with the way your Aunt lives her life anymore, even she doesn't take her, her _delusions_ quite this far."

Delusions? Dawn wondered what that meant. Most likely? Buffy had probably been telling lies again. And what did Aunt Ellen have to do with it? Aunt Ellen didn't lie. Maybe that's not what it meant. Ooh, maybe she'd get to talk to Cousin Jo again, she hadn't been allowed to do that in forever, except that time last week when Daddy hadn't come home 'til _real_ late and Mommy hadn't been paying her _any_ attention, at _all_.

"_Delusions_? Mom? That's what you think this is? How do you explain everything that's happened recently? Maybe it's you and Dad that are deluded!"

"Buffy Anne Summers! You do not talk to your mother and I like that! Ever!"

"B-"

"No. Now, you will sit yourself down right now and listen young lady."

Buffy didn't sit.

"Now!"

Wow, Daddy was really screaming.

"Make me."

Dawn gasped; she couldn't believe Buffy had just done that. She'd never talked to Daddy like that, not even that time when he'd forgotten her dance recital and then told her his work was more important!

"Dawn?"

Oh dear. _I'm invisible. Nobody can see me. I'm invisible. No-_

"Dawn, is that you?"

Mommy was moving towards the door.

"Dawn, what have we told you about listening to grownup conversations?"

"Buffy's not a grownup!"

Mommy had opened the door fully now.

"I knew you were there, Dawn."

_Oops._

"Go to your room, Dawn."

"But, Mommy!"

"No. Go to your room and don't come down until your Daddy or I come and get you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mommy."

Dawn stuck her tongue out at Buffy and then ran up to her room. She really hoped that this didn't mean Mommy would really mean it next time she said that Dawn would never get to see Jo again, if it did, it was all Buffy's fault!

***

Joyce shut the living room door behind her and leant against it. This was not a conversation she was enjoying and Dawn had only made it worse.

She held in a sigh as Hank began shouting at, no, talking to Buffy again.

"Buffy, honey-"

"Don't call me that!"

"That attitude is part of the reason we're doing this."

_Oh, Hank._

"Oh, so you're sending me off to the loony bin because I'm acting like, god, no! A teenager! Shock. Horror. Daddy."

"Honey, we're doing this to help you."

"You're doing this to help yourselves. It's got nothing to do with me. You just want to push your messes under the rug. Will Dawnie be next?"

"Buffy!"

"Mom."

Joyce sighed; she really didn't know where this was coming from. Or maybe she did, this family was really going down hill. First Bill goes and gets himself killed running after his so called '_monsters_'. Then Isabel goes and gets herself pregnant, and Marie doesn't even make her keep the child! And now this? Maybe it was all her fault. Maybe there was something wrong with her, and Ellen and Marie. Maybe it was something in their genes that was doing this.

"Buffy. Our decision is final. You can come home again when you come to your senses."

There, it was done. Hank had finally lain down the law.

***

Buffy stormed into her room and threw herself down on her bed, she couldn't believe it. Ok, maybe she got what her Dad was doing. It was _so_ obvious he and Mom were heading for a divorce, and making her look like a freak was one more way of coming out on top. Making it look like the freak gene came from Mom's side of the family, well, that was just icing meeting cake.

But her Mom? That made no sense. Sure, she'd always avoided certain parts of Aunt Ellen and Uncle Bill's life, but she knew what really happened out there in the dark. It was like whenever Aunt Ellen wasn't _right_ there she forgot all about it and the world was 'normal' again.

And, just because Aunt Ellen had never mentioned vampires didn't mean there weren't any. It's not like she meant to burn down any school buildings. But, hey, what's more important; the lives of her classmates or a few buildings that, if they went up that quick, weren't safe enough in the first place!

She rolled onto her stomach and noticed that her phone was still sitting on her bedside table. Maybe they were giving her one last night of freedom before they locked her away. Or maybe they just figured that if none of her friends were talking to the freak either that there was no one for her to call. They were wrong there. She picked up the phone and dialled.

"Hello."

"Iz?"

"Buffy? Is that really you?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you were only allowed monitored calls by the parental units."

Buffy laughed.

"Yeah, well, seeing as though they're locking me up in the morning I don't exactly care right now."

"They're doing what? Locking you up? Can they do that?"

"Apparently. They're sending me to the loony bin."

"What did you do? Act like a teenager?"

"Nope, that's your third of the family."

Izzie gasped.

"Oh, Iz. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, right."

"Really, Izzie. I didn't. You're still my best friend."

"More than the brats?"

"Of course. Anyway, what I meant was, Mom and Dad can't hack it that I'm taking after the wrong third of the family."

"Oh, Buffy, what did you do?"

"I, I wish I could tell you, Iz. I really do. But it's not really an over the phone conversation."

"What? And telling me Aunt Joyce and Uncle Hank are sending you to the loony bin is?"

"More than this. It's, it's more like I kind of fell into Uncle Bill's business, without the choice."

"Uncle Bill's busi- oh. That explains the loony bin. Aunt Joyce never did like that side of him. How-"

There was a click on the line as someone picked up the phone.

"Buffy? Who're you talking to?"

Buffy let out a sigh of relief at her sisters voice.

"Dawnie. You need to put the phone down, now."

"No. How much trouble did you get in this time?"

"Dawnie, how about if you put the phone down now I'll let you call me next week, huh?"

"Izzie! This is so cool! Sure! Bye Izzie!"

The phone clicked again as Dawn went away.

"Looks like little sis is revelling in your downfall again."

"Maybe she wouldn't if she knew what was going on."

"Hmm. She probably knows more than we realise about that stuff. Her and Jo talk about it all the time. Hey, wouldn't Aunt Ellen be able to talk Aunt Joyce out of this one?"

"I doubt it. I think she's using this as a last ditch attempt at hanging onto Dad. Do what he says and maybe he'll stay. Well, that and she hasn't taken a call from Aunt Ellen since before you, you know."

"I know."

"Look, I, I should go. I just, just wanted to-"

"I know, me too, right?"

"Bye, Iz."

"Bye, Buff."

 

**Part One - Dawn in Seattle**

Izzie sat on the edge of her bed, head in her hands, elbows on her knees, staring into the closet opposite. She sighed, how had her life gotten to this place? Seriously. Life at Seattle Grace had been one long lesson in 'life sucks, deal with it.' Sure, there had been bright spots, the learning, the helping people, the love of her life, or maybe two. She snorted, or maybe not.

There was a knock at her door and then Meredith shouting through it,

"Izzie, are you ready yet? We're leaving in twenty if you still want that lift in."

"I'll be out in a bit."

"Sure."

She heard Alex bustling along the corridor from the bathroom to George's room, it was always going to be George's room, even if it was sort of Alex's and George was living with his wife in a hotel. A hotel. His wife.

Seriously.

"Be real, Grey. She's not moved since she left the bathroom a half hour ago."

"And just how would you know that, Alex?"

"'Cause it's what she's done every morning for the last week."

"Whatever, Alex."

They moved on, back to their own morning routines.

Izzie stared into the closet. Why was it so difficult to pick an outfit? It wasn't like many people would see it; she was going to change out of it and into scrubs the minute she got to work. But that would mean she'd be there, in the hospital. With George. With Hannah. With Denny. With her life, what there was of it.

She sighed as she finally shifted and grabbed the nearest things that matched. Shrugging into the top she winced at the pain still there from the previous weeks procedure. She couldn't call it anything else, 'cause then it would be real. The daughter she left behind. The sick daughter she left behind. The sick daughter she left behind that didn't want to see her.

Pulling on the blue jeans, wincing again, she thought back to the last time something in her life had really been happy, happy without the threat of something hanging over it. To a time when she had a family, a best girl friend, brats to run off. To Buffy, Dawnie and Jo.

It had been longer than Hannah had been alive since she had last seen Buffy or Dawn; Aunt Joyce hadn't wanted them to see the teenage failure. It had been only slightly less since she'd heard from them; Buffy the night before her parents had sent her away, and Dawn less than a week later which had ended in her Mom and Aunt Joyce screaming at each other.

The last anyone had heard was that Aunt Joyce had finally divorced Uncle Hank and had taken the girls and run. Maybe one day she'd find them.

She'd heard from Jo more recently, but again, the last phone call between the two had been strained, there was too much of an age gap, she couldn't be Dawn and Jo couldn't be Buffy. And that call, too, had ended in her Mom screaming at another Aunt. Her Mom was good at that. Maybe when this all blew over she'd look up Aunt Ellen and Jo, she must have their address somewhere and it wasn't like her Mom could have any influence over her anymore.

She ran a brush through her hair and pinned it up quickly in a bun. Grabbing her bag off the bed she left the safety of her room.

"Meredith, you still here?"

***

Jo lay on her back on the single bed in the latest dingy motel room. The cheapest one possible, the only one she could afford. In the last two months she hadn't stayed in one town more than one night, unless there had been some nasty that needed hunted, then she'd stayed only long enough to kill it and be gone.

The constant moving kept her mind on the ball, on the monsters and away from certain Winchesters. Or it was supposed to. Funny how much that didn't work. Funny how much all she thought she knew was worth Jack Shit when it came down to it. When it came to the point when the dark brought it all home to you in the form of a friend.

Another plus to the keep on moving plan meant that it was harder for the brothers to track her, if they even bothered. She laughed, that wasn't likely. All they had was eyes for each other and the monsters they fought.

As she lay there the room got lighter as the sun rose and filtered in through the threadbare curtains. She rose with a sigh, time to check out and get on the move again. Rushing through her morning necessities as quickly as possible she thought back to a time when life was simpler and held less pain. To family. To her father. To visiting her cousins every few weeks. To talking to Dawnie all the time.

Maybe she could use her hunting to skills to track down her Summers' cousins, or even Izzie, maybe she knew something.

She made one last check of the room, made sure she hadn't left one of her few posses- things. She hadn't. She checked out and slid into the driver's seat of the old banger she'd bought on the cheap from Dad's old friend, Bobby.

She shook her head clear; she needed her mind on the job. Next stop Seattle Grace Hospital, Seattle and the freak accidents that had been occurring there in the last week.

***

Buffy sat in her window seat, staring out of best of the Council's fleet. Only the best for the Summers girls on a hunt. The airplane was a whole flight of stairs up from where they'd been almost four years ago at the collapse of Sunnydale. She smiled as she thought back to the day Willow had finally got through all the red tape of the old Council's funds.

Xander, back from Africa for two weeks, had danced the snoopy dance. Andrew had tried to join in and had fallen over, accompanied by the giggles of a dozen junior slayers. Faith had taken Robin out for one last ride and then flown off to her new assignment in Japan. Giles had smiled and thanked the Lord that finally they could actually do something without Willow being forced to break the law every five minutes. She and Dawn had shared a blow out shopping trip in Milan the next week.

That had been three years ago now. Dawn was taking a break from her studies as a watcher and her degree to spend some time with Buffy. Still something of a dream come true in the eyes of a girl who had wanted nothing much more than that for the whole seven years in Sunnydale, nothing much more than that and a chance to see her cousins again.

Even with the Council cogs behind them they still hadn't found them. Aunt Marie had slammed the door in Buffy's face and the only leads Willow had been able to find were of 'Bethany Whisper'. Buffy laughed at the thought of the look she was sure had been on Jo's face when she had learnt just what her cousin had done with her name.

Aunt Ellen had been more co-operative when they had finally found her; the Harvelle's had moved in the time since Buffy had last been to their home, but that had been even before Uncle Bill had died. And, of course, Mom's address book had been in the bottom of a crater when they thought to look for it.

By the time they'd found Aunt Ellen, Jo had left. Aunt Ellen had been a nervous wreck, well, as much of a nervous wreck as she'd ever been. They had promised to have the Council up the search for Jo, but had yet to find her. Any lead they ever had had dried up within a day.

She turned and watched as Dawn walked down the centre of the plane towards her seat; at least someone else had gotten Izzie's height.

"The pilot says we're about to land."

"Great."

Time to focus on the job. Seattle Grace Hospital, Seattle had some weird goings on and it would be just the sort of small thing for the Summers girls to tackle on their mini-vacation.

 

**Part Two - Reconnaissance**

Jo entered the front entrance of Seattle Grace Hospital and tried to make it look like she had every right to be there, that there was nothing to see and everyone should just move along. It seemed like it was working, no one paid her any attention as she slipped past the admin desk and headed towards the signs for the surgical wing.

***

"And, here we are. Dawn Summers, Dr Sydney Heron."

The latest of the four nurses and three administration assistants left Dawn and the doctor, a doctor who looked surprisingly familiar, standing in a hallway of Seattle Grace's surgical wing.

"Dawnie, can I call you Dawnie?" Sydney asked with a scary looking grin.

"Only if I get to call you Hallie!" Dawn responded, mimicking the grin.

The blood drained from the doctor's face as she grabbed Dawn's arm and dragged her into the nearest empty room. As she shut the door she spun back round to face Dawn,

"It's not me! I haven't done anything wrong, you can't kill me!"

"Aren't you supposed to be dead? I'm sure someone said you were dead. And, anyway, I'm only spending the day shadowing someone to see if I want to be a surgeon."

"Oh! I was, and now I'm not," Hallie answered, the grin resurfacing, "and like I believe that one. You're a Summers, you're after me."

"No, I'm not. Unless it's you that's doing all the-"

"It's not me. And, you're not allowed to kill me! I'm a balance demon."

At Dawn's confused look she added,

"Like Whistler!"

"Who?"

"Oh, of course, like either of those two would actually mention the guy."

She sat down on the nearest bed and patted the spot next to her; Dawn sat down, as far away as possible.

"You see, D'Hoffryn needed someone to do a job, and I was the closest to what he needed. I still do a little bit of the vengeance for children bit on the side, the 'Daddy issues' in this place! But, never mind that, D'Hoffryn knew that this latest batch of interns at the hospital was going to need someone special, they're all a bit... well, I was needed, he brought me back."

"Right."

"Seriously. He did."

"Sure, say I believe you, do you know who's causing the-"

"Nope. I know nothing. Not my field of expertise, at all."

They sat in silence for a moment,

"Oh! Part of the rules, we'll have to switch you to some other surgeon for your snooping."

"Huh?"

"I'm not allowed to play with anyone from Sunnydale anymore, or anyone who has anything to do with anyone from Sunnydale. It's a thing. And you make sure you tell that to your sister when she gets here."

"Who says she's coming here?"

"Please, like they'd leave you to your own devices after the last few times. Where is she then?"

"They would too. They have. But, uh, she went off to do something. Said something about a bar, which is odd, 'cause you know how well Buffy and bars go together."

"Oh, she'll have gone over to the Emerald City Bar. They get all the gossip, you see Joe for the hospital stuff and Walter for the demon stuff. Those boys know everything."

The doctor stood and headed for the door, turning back at the last minute,

"Right, we'll get you set up with Miranda, she's sure to have someone at the centre of attention. Oh, and remember, if you see me I'm Sydney, not Hallie! K?"

"Right, sure, Hallie."

***

Jo turned a corner and read the sign on the wall opposite. She sighed, reading the plans for this place the night before had done nothing to help get around. All the corridors looked the same. How she was supposed to find any of the places where suspicious activity had been reported she didn't know. It wasn't like she could wander around with any of her detectors out.

***

Buffy slid into a stool at the counter of the almost empty Emerald City Bar and smiled at the barman.

"It's a bit early for a drink, don't you think?"

"Isn't it a little odd to be persuading your customers to do something other than drink?"

"Not this early in the morning with that look on your face, it isn't."

"What look? I don't have a look."

"You do, it says-"

"It says, I'm not here for a drink I'm here to see Walter."

The bartenders whole demeanour changed, he relaxed and tensed at the same time, which was quite a feat.

"Oh. He's, uh-"

"Buffy Summers", she announced, holding her hand out across the counter, placing her business card on the bar with her other hand.

"Right. Pleasure to meet you. I'm Joe. This is my bar." He shook her hand and then picked up the card and read it,

"Oh, that Buffy Summers."

"Is there any other?"

"Ah, probably not. You're here about the-"

"At the hospital? Yeah."

"Thank God someone's finally here, we've been putting out the message for months now. I'll just go get Walter, he's out back updating the demon blog."

***

"Can I help you?"

Jo came to a full stop suddenly and turned around to face the guy who'd spoke to her. Like she needed someone to notice her right this minute.

"Uh, no. I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Sure."

"I'm Alex, Dr. Alex Karev."

"Well, good for you Dr. Karev. I'm leaving."

***

Hallie had left her with another doctor, Miranda, Dr. Bailey. Dr. Bailey had sighed and muttered something that had sounded like, 'just what I need' under her breath.

"Right, so you want to be a doctor?"

"Sure."

"And you want to be a surgeon?"

"Yup."

"Can you tell me what a left ventricular assist device is?"

"Something that assists the left ventricle?"

"Tell me, don't ask."

"Right. It's something that assists the left ventricle."

"That was a given, now, it has a little wire that comes out of the patient and towards some machines. What should you never do with it?"

The doctor standing just behind Dr. Bailey gasped, Bailey held up a hand to quiet her.

"Uh, cut it."

"Exactly, you're doing better than my interns already. If you've got the brains you might just make it. Now, I have no time or patience to deal with you today, or any day, I have interns. This particular intern behind me is Meredith Grey, surprisingly enough she's the one causing me the least amount of trouble today, you can follow her."

"Just follow?"

"Just follow, observe, and don't touch anything. She's got experience of people who do that."

"But, Dr. Bailey, I-"

"Grey, I don't care what you-. I have more important things to deal with today. Be proud that you're the littlest trouble maker of the day."

***

Jo walked past a bunch of doctors talking about a McDreamy, maybe that was some sort of new dessert from McDonald's, and headed for the stairs. She finally had the trail of something. The detector she'd finally put in her jacket pocket was going haywire. The woman in front of her on the stairs suddenly turned around,

"It's not me. How many times am I going to have to say that today? I'm about the balance now. Go find the real problem."

***

Izzie sat on the edge of Old Guy's corner chair and picked at her salad. It was still too early to be eating salad, but it was all she could stomach from the cart. She listened to Alex and Cristina going through the latest hospital gossip.

"So, there's this blonde chick snooping around the place who keeps doing something weird with this thing like an ipod."

"A girl with an ipod. Whatever. I can beat that."

"Seriously. There's something weird with that girl."

"Mine tops it. Brunette that got passed round half the nurses and some of the admin lot and then onto Dr Sydney. Then Dr. Sydney loads her off onto Bailey, who loads her off onto Mer. Something about shadowing her for the day."

"Big deal."

"It is. You should have heard about the question she asked to see if the girl has a brain." Cristina looked over at Izzie, and dropped her voice, "She asked her what not to do with an LVAD wire."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Then when this girl says 'cut it', Bailey tells her she's smarter than all of us and she'll do great if she's got brains."

Izzie ditched the salad in the nearby trashcan and left the room.

***

Jo dodged past a blonde doctor who had her head down and wasn't even looking where she was going. The people in this place had fewer manners than a ghost.

 

**Part Three - Coincidences**

As Dawn stood, leaning against the nurses' station, waiting for Dr. Bailey to realise that she was still there she thought back to the conversation she'd had with Buffy the night before.

They had been lying on the sofas in their suite at the Archfield Hotel, pigging out on the snacks they'd ordered from room service.

***

"So, Walter says that it's not just one bad guy doing all the stuff, it's several. There's a balance demon wandering around-"

"Hallie."

"What?"

"The balance demon, it's Halfrek. What's a balance demon?"

"It's what it sounds like. He brought her back?"

"He brought her back. She's in place as a Dr. Sydney Heron, and she's not allowed to play with us or anyone associated with us."

"'Play' with us?"

"That's how she put it. She's a balance demon, not messing with us, and she's not the one we're after. She told me to tell you that."

"Right. So, Hallie's about, but she's mostly clearing up after some of the other stuff and this bunch of interns that are a total nightmare, especially this one, Stevens, something about cutting some wire."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Dr. Bailey asked what you shouldn't do with this wire, and I answered 'cut it', she told me I was doing better than her interns already."

"Right, well, Walter says they're all good people, really, they just attract all this weird crap."

"So they're the ones doing it?"

"Nope. Just attracting it. There's also several ghosts about, nothing malicious, well, not yet anyway."

"Not yet?"

"Not yet."

"So, tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow you carry on your shadow thing and I'll do my thing."

"Your thing?"

"My thing."

***

Buffy had laughed and then snagged the remote from under Dawn's legs and switched on some nightmare of a movie.

"Summers? You're still here?"

"Yes, Dr. Bailey. All week."

"Right. Well, you've got Grey again, she's down in the clinic for the moment."

***

Buffy entered the hospital via the front entrance, she passed a group of interns talking about a 'McSteamy', McDonald's were doing steamed veggies now? They really were taking the health thing too far.

These days it was easier for Buffy to do her thing, she could dress like she was supposed to be where she was and that nothing was out of place. No one would notice her. She took a turn for the stairs heading for the surgical wing,

"Summers?"

She froze for a second, then recognised the voice, turning she placed a mostly fake smile on her face,

"Hal-"

"Sydney, Dr. Sydney Heron."

"Whatever."

"Did Dawnie tell you that-"

"Yes, so did Walter and Joe. You stick by the rules you won't feel the business end of my scythe, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, I'm going to go about my business, how about you do yours and we'll leave it that."

"Sure! Well, you have a nice day now Miss Summers!"

***

Jo was stumped; she had nothing other than that woman with the odd reading on her detector. Grabbing breakfast in the courtyard she watched the staff and patients of the hospital go by, listening in for anything that might help.

"So, Mer's little follower's back again."

"Again?"

"Yup, here all week."

"Whatever, that's old news, did you hear about-"

Tuning out of that conversation she listened to the nurses on the table behind her,

"Dr. Sydney's been awful jumpy these last two days. Anyone know what that's about?"

"Not me."

"Didn't say it was you."

"Well, I heard it was something to do with that girl Bailey's team is babysitting. Dr. Sydney had her first, pawned her off on Bailey in fifteen minutes."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. And no one can figure out why, the girl seems pretty nice, doesn't get in the way of Grey or anyone else."

Maybe it was time to find this girl, it sounded like she could be part of the cause of the hospital's problems.

***

Izzie was rushing through the clinic trying to avoid Sydney, again. This time it was something about a check up after her peer counselling. Not something she needed right now. She spotted Meredith up ahead with the girl Alex had told her was shadowing her for the week. The two were sitting on one of the beds, backs to her.

Izzie walked up to the bed, closing the curtain behind her,

"Meredith, thank God. I'm not here. You didn't see me."

"Okay. Why didn't I see you?"

"Dr. Sydney is trying to do her feel good thing again. Not what I need right now."

"Right you're not here. While you're not here, this is Daw-"

Izzie looked up and saw the girl's face for the first time; her big eyes were rounded in shock.

"Izzie?"

The voice, now changed, but mixed with the eyes threw her back over a decade to another life,

"Dawnie? Is that really you?"

"It is!"

Dawn jumped up off the bed and launched herself at Izzie, hugging her hard around the waist. Izzie winced at the pressure on her back.

"Oh, sorry, you hurt?"

"Uh, yeah, I am. How did you-"

"I really should know better, check for injuries before launching myself at people for hugs."

"Check for injuries?" Meredith muttered.

"Never mind, Mer. What are you doing here Dawnie?"

"Uh, I'm, I'm, uh, shadowing you guys, see if I want to be a surgeon when I grow up."

Well, that sounded like a complete and utter lie, seriously. She was supposed to be a teenager, shouldn't she be able to make her lies sound more convincing. A thought suddenly occurred to Izzie, the comment about injuries, the lie, maybe she was here about Buffy or something Aunt Ellen-like.

"So, uh, you two know each other?"

"Yup, we do. Meredith, meet my baby cousin, Dawnie."

"Cousins? Why didn't you say, Dawn?"

"I didn't know she was here. Our Mom's all had a big falling out when we were all kids, we had know idea how to find Iz, not that we haven't been looking, 'cause we have. By the way, Iz, Aunt Marie wouldn't tell us where you were."

"She wouldn't. We? Buffy's, uh, she's still... around?"

"She is. Oh!" Dawn, ignoring the abject relief on Izzie's face, reached into her pocket for a phone and hit the speed dial function,

"Buffy? It's me. I need you to come to the clinic."

Buffy? Here, on the phone! Izzie grabbed for the phone,

"Buffy?"

"Izzie? Oh, my God? Is that you?"

"It is."

"I'm on my way."

***

Buffy slipped the phone back into the back pocket of her $300 jeans and picked up her pace heading towards her sister and her cousin. Her cousin! She couldn't believe it.

_Oh, God. Stevens. She's Stevens._

She picked up her pace again, almost running. People dodged to get out her way, used to people running in the halls. Suddenly she came to a stop as she met someone who wasn't used to it.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I just-"

"It's ok, I'm fine, I- Buffy?"

Buffy looked at the girl she'd run into. She looked so familiar, just older than she-

"Jo?"

"Yeah, it's me." The girl grinned.

"Wow, we've been looking for you forever. And your Mom, when we found her, she's so worried about you, Jo."

The grin vanished from her cousin's face. She should have known, this was like Dawn and Xander all over again, the normal one who wanted to hunt.

"Not that, uh, not that you can't take care of yourself."

"Right, like you believe that."

"I do, if Dawnie can, so can you. It just takes time for others around you to realise that. Come on, Dawn can tell you all about it?"

"Dawn? She's here?"

"She is," Buffy answered, tugging on Jo's arm to get her to follow, "she just bumped into Izzie."

Coincidences, they were things that happened to other people, not slayers.

 

**Part Four - Bringing it all Together**

There was something going on with her interns. Something more than usual. More than Stevens and Denny, or Stevens and her daughter, or Stevens and O'Malley (yes, she knew about that). More than Grey having Shepherd related problems, or family problems, or breathing problems. More than Yang having wedding problems, or ex problems. More than Karev having Ava problems or Addison problems (yes, she knew about that too). More than O'Malley and Stevens or O'Malley and O'Malley.

There was probably more to that list, but she didn't have the heart to dredge up any more. But, there was something else. Karev kept mumbling about some girl with an ipod. Yang about Summers. Grey was conspicuously absent, as was Stevens. The only one not causing any trouble was O'Malley, which was suspicious in itself, and made her worry for his relationships even further (not that she did that, ever).

Interns weren't supposed to cause this much trouble. Nobody else's did. Why did she have to get the troublesome ones? Miranda laughed under her breath, she knew why. The Chief. Protecting his ex-lover's daughter. Making sure the model and the screw-up got a good teacher. Making sure the ego didn't get too big. Making sure the bambi extra didn't get swallowed up. She sighed, too bad that didn't always work. But, he had tried. He'd given the ones most likely to cause or have trouble caused on them to her, to the one he trusted the most to get them through and turn them into the best, as he knew they could be.

Whatever this new something was she could feel it coming down upon them and dredging up the past, a past that didn't need any more dredging up. Whatever it was she would find out and put a stop to it before anyone got hurt. Hopefully. After that she could go back to being 'The Nazi'.

She turned from the nurses' station and watched as Karev attempted to look inconspicuous as he followed two blonde women hurrying down the corridor to the elevators.

"Karev!"

All three looked towards her, Karev as if she'd just put him in front of a firing squad.

"Dr. Bailey." He sighed and made his way over to her, the two women laughing in his direction and getting on the elevator.

"What was that about?"

"What was what about?"

"You with the super sleuth act."

"Uh, nothing."

She looked at him. He squirmed.

"Try that again."

"Uh, those girls. They were acting suspicious, the one in the red top was snooping round all day yesterday doing something weird with an ipod."

Ah, so that was ipod-girl. It all made so much more sense now.

"Karev, stop stalking those girls and get your ass back upstairs to Ava."

Karev's face crumpled at her orders. She stifled a sigh, he needed to suck it up and get on with treating his patient.

"Go on."

"I'm going, I'm going."

***

Buffy and Jo leaned against the back of the elevator trying to control their laughter. Jo managed first,

"God, that guy. He was following me around yesterday. Just what I didn't need."

"Well, he is kinda cute..." Buffy wheedled.

Jo snorted.

"If you go for that kind of guy." She pushed all thoughts of Dean that that comment had brought to the back of her mind, Dean Winchester was the last thing she needed to be thinking of right now.

"Oh," Buffy laughed, "Is this about that Winchester guy your Mom said you had a crush on?"

Jo froze; she didn't need lectures on choosing the wrong guy from her cousin right now, and definitely no lectures on the Winchester males. Thankfully the elevator doors opened, stopping any rebuff she would have had to make, and a red headed doctor stepped on. Taking that as a chance to change the subject she picked up on the first thing she could think of,

"You know, I think Seattle has a total different McDonald's menu to the rest of the US."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, something about a McDreamy."

The shoulders of the redhead in front started shaking. Giving the woman an odd look, Buffy turned to continue the conversation.

"Oh, that... yeah, I heard something about a McSteamy. I figured steamed veggies, which has got to be taking the health kick way too far."

The elevator stopped again and all three stepped off the redhead now outright laughing, tears falling down her cheeks. The cousins walked away quickly,

"What was that about?"

"No idea."

***

Meredith sat on the clinic bed in silence watching the two cousins. Something odd was going on. Something to do with Dawn's sister. Any time either one of them started to speak their eyes would slide to her and then they'd suddenly clam up. And then Izzie started in on her hyper 'everything in the world is just A-OK' act. Meredith was ready to scream. Next she'd probably somehow manage to start baking.

"Cookies."

The other two turned to look at her,

"What?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing. Just, uh, just thinking about lunch."

"Yeah, right. I'm not going to start baking any time soon."

Dawn smiled at her cousin then turned to Meredith,

"She still does that?"

"Yeah, we have a freezer full of cookie dough."

"Awesome. Chocolate chip?"

"Yup, oatmeal raisin too."

"Izzie makes the best cookies, I swear the whole cookie analogy thing Buffy has going has to be her fault."

"Izzie is, I'm right here, you know. Cookie analogy?"

"Don't ask. Really."

***

After sending Karev off to actually do his job Miranda had taken the elevator down to the ground floor. She stepped off the elevator to find Addison leaning against the wall opposite crying with laughter. At her look all Addison would say was 'McDreamy' or 'McSteamy' then start laughing again. Dismissing the doctor as having had one too many shocks from both men she set off towards the clinic.

She entered the large room to see a scene that would stick with her for years to come, pure happiness. Stevens was hugging one of the blonde girls from the elevator and Summers was hugging the other, the one Karev had complained about. Grey was standing between the two pairs looking as confused as ever.

The rest of the clinic had stopped and were watching.

"Don't you lot have work to be doing?"

Suddenly motion and sound started back up again as everyone realised 'The Nazi' was in the room.

Her smile as she headed towards Stevens, Grey and the rest seemed to be worrying her interns. The two stood, waiting to hear her berating words.

She laughed as she reached them.

***

"Dr. Bailey?" Grey asked. She could see the fear in her interns' eyes.

"Grey, back to work. I heard Shepherd had a craniotomy at 3, you behave and you can scrub in."

"Yes, Dr. Bailey."

Now to find out what was going on with Stevens, and to find out if there was any way to keep that smile going.

"Stevens? Summers? Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

"Uh, this is Dawn-"

"I know that, Stevens."

"Yeah, but this is Dawn, my cousin Dawn. And this is her sister Buffy and our other cousin Jo. None of us have seen each other in forever and-"

"Your cousins? All three of them?" She could see the resemblance across the four, although the height differences made it look as though this Buffy and Jo were the sisters, not Summers and Buffy.

"Yes, Dr. Bailey."

"Any particular reason they all felt the need to show up in my clinic all at once, especially with one of them shadowing my interns and one of them snooping around my hospital?"

"Uh."

Miranda looked at all four girls, all of them looked like they knew something, Stevens the least. In fact, Stevens truly did look as if she had had no idea of their presence in the hospital. Although some of the shock reflected on all of their faces.

"Do any of you feel like telling me what's going on here?"

"Gangs on PCP!"

"Summers?"

"Uh, nothing, old in-joke. Didn't mean to say it."

Bailey narrowed her eyes at the four of them,

"Right. See that it is just a joke. And this better not have anything to do with whatever it is that's been spooking my interns more than usual these past few weeks!"

The three newcomers all looked suspiciously innocent at her order, and Izzie spotted this straight away and groaned.

"Stevens, something you'd like to tell me?"

"Would you believe a family emergency?"

"I might if it would bring some small semblance of sanity back to my interns."

Miranda sighed; she wasn't going to get any more work out of Stevens today,

"All right. Go home."

"What?"

"You heard me, back bright and early tomorrow, Stevens."

Watching the four girls head out of the clinic, Miranda sighed. She hoped that whatever it was that had brought the girls back into Izzie's life was a good thing. Stevens did not need anything else on her plate. Neither did the hospital, and if those girls had any clue to what was going on she'd turn a blind eye to however they fixed it, as long as they fixed it.

 

**Part Five - The Pain of Knowing **

Izzie Stevens entered the foyer of the Archfield Hotel with her three cousins; it was where Buffy and Dawn were staying and where they had decided to have this little reunion. She hadn't wanted to be interrupted so Meredith's was out and Jo hadn't offered the use of wherever it was she was staying. Which was most likely _not_ anywhere like the Archfield.

She came to a halt, the others carrying on, as the elevator doors opened to reveal George and Callie, dressed to return to their shifts at the hospital. The O'Malley's spotted her standing alone at the same time, George looked nervous and confused, Callie just looked pissed.

"Izzie? What are you doing here? Did Bailey send you? We weren't gone that long were we?"

As she began to answer Buffy noticed that she was no longer with them and brought the other two back in her direction.

"What? No, George. Bailey isn't looking for you, not as far as I know anyway."

"So, what are you doing here then, Stevens?"

"I, I..."

"She's visiting us." _Thank you, Buffy._

"And you are?"

"Buffy Summers, and you?"

"Dr. Callie Torres and this is my _husband_ Dr. George O'Malley."

"Nice to meet you, I'm sure. I take it you're friends of my cousin?"

Izzie watched as George's face fell, another part of her life she'd never told him about. Well, it served him right, he never told her he was running off to Vegas and getting married. Seriously!

"The best." Callie snorted at her husbands answer.

"Sure, whatever. Well, you guys obviously had an elsewhere to be and if you didn't we do, catch you later. You coming, Iz?"

"Izzie?" George's confusion had ratcheted up several more notches since Buffy and the other two had appeared on the scene.

"I'll catch you tomorrow, George."

As she headed towards the elevator with her cousins it was hard to keep the smile off of her face as she heard the newlyweds arguing as they headed towards the hotel's exit.

***

Dawn sighed as she sank into the softer of the two sofas in the suite; she was both looking forward to and dreading the upcoming conversation, which was in no way going to be made better by the little scene in the foyer.

She wondered who George O'Malley was to her cousin. He said he was 'the best' when it came to her friends, but the look on both his wife's and Izzie's face said something different. Callie obviously thought it was more than that, and Izzie didn't look at all secure, she looked lost and jealous and guilty all at once. Being sucky at relationships obviously came from her Mom's side of the family.

"So, how did you guys afford this place? Did Aunt Joyce come into some money?" Izzie asked, an obvious deflection from anything to do with her.

Dawn's mood plummeted. The look on Buffy's face was mirrored on her own.

"What? Did, did something happen to her?"

"She didn't tell you?"

"Who didn't tell me what?"

"Your Mom, we told her when we were looking for you, before she chucked us out. We figured she would have at least told you that." Buffy answered, her voice trembling.

"Mom hasn't said anything about you in years. What's going on?"

"She's dead, isn't she?" Jo asked; it looked as if subtlety was still not her strong point.

She and Buffy nodded.

"Oh my God." Izzie raised a hand to her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. Jo looked as though she was struggling not to cry.

"When? How? Was it, was it demons?"

"Six years ago, it was an aneurysm. They said the tumour in her brain was gone and-"

"Six years ago? What, it took you that long to tell anyone? What was so damn important that you-"

"Oh, I don't know, Iz, it might have been the small matter of an apocalypse followed by me spending the summer six feet under." Buffy snarked back.

_Good one, Buff, ease them into gently._

"Apocalypse?"

"Yeah, Jo, we tend to get at least one a year. That year's is sort of memorable."

"For all sorts of reasons." Dawn added, ignoring her sister's glare.

"Hold on a second. Never mind the apocalypse, what about six feet under? You can't possibly mean you were de-"

"Dead? Sure I can. Wouldn't have been the first time."

"Buffy!"

"What, Dawn?"

"You can't just dump that on them."

Buffy deflated as she realised what she had said.

"I, I'm sorry guys. I shouldn't have said that like that, it's just this last, god, has it been a decade?" She nodded her own answer, "Yeah, this last decade or so has been so full of so many things it would take almost as long to-"

"But, you died?"

"I did. Once in '97, only for a few minutes that time. And then again in 2001."

"Seriously? How?"

"Hold on a second guys", she told them as she jumped up and grabbed the phone and ordered several pizzas from room service, "We'll need something to get us through this it's a long story."

***

Several hours after Dawn had ordered the pizzas Jo sat staring in awe at her cousins. She'd thought her own story or even the Winchester's story was something to be in awe of but this, this was something else.

"Seriously?"

Jo nearly laughed, Izzie sure had a thing for the word. Mind you, she had noticed it in use a lot around the hospital.

"Yeah, and that's just the short version. You didn't get all the gory relationship details."

"Dawn."

"Buffy."

Jo did laugh this that time, drawing attention to herself.

"What? Like gory relationships aren't par for the course in any line of work."

She noticed as Izzie nodded sombrely at her pronouncement, a look that Buffy had caught as well. It looked like Buffy would take care of that one.

"Yeah, well it's not in every line of work that you end up killing the love of your life."

"Dawn!" Wow, Buffy still had that screech on her.

Izzie jumped up and ran from her spot by the TV, heading for the nearest door, which happened to be the bathroom.

"Dawnie-"

"I, I. Oh, God." Jo knew that look, even after all these years she knew the look of Dawn putting together all her facts and coming up with the right answer. Dawn shot to her feet and tried to follow Izzie, Buffy stopped her with one hand and followed instead, locking the door behind her.

Jo turned to her cousin and best friend,

"Still haven't found that block between your brain and your mouth, huh?"

***

Buffy entered the bathroom to see Izzie sitting against the tub staring into space, she reached behind and the locked the door.

"Iz, I, I'm so sorry."

Izzie raised her face to look at her,

"You think you know what it's like?"

"It wasn't you Dawn was talking about."

"How would you know? She's been in the hospital two days, she probably heard all the gory details inside of five minutes."

"Izzie, she didn't even know you were there, she might have heard some things, but she didn't know it was you, not until just now."

"And you did?"

"Walter told me a few things, but I didn't realise he was talking about you until Dawn told me you were here."

Buffy watched as her cousin realised she was telling the truth. Taking that as her cue she edged towards the tub and took a seat next her cousin, taking her hand in her own.

"What was she talking about then? Did, did she?"

Buffy shook her head,

"No, not her."

"You?"

"Angelus was Angel, without the soul."

It was clear from the looks passing over Izzie's face that the knowledge changed something inside of her,

"You know?"

"I know." Buffy answered, squeezing her hand.

***

Izzie took a deep breath as she unlocked the bathroom door, let go of Buffy's hand, and stepped back into the main room of the suite.

"It'll be ok." Buffy whispered behind her.

Buffy. Her cousin. Her best friend. Her person. She knew what Meredith really meant now. George was never going to be her person; he was too many other things to be that. Here was Buffy, back in her life and someone who actually knew.

"Izzie?" Dawn looked petrified. "Izzie, I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you, I swear. I didn't even know that it was you, with the, you know, the wire."

"I know you didn't."

"I'm still sorry, you know."

"I know." She shook her head to clear her thoughts, "So, anyone else feel the need to fall to pieces?"

Jo laughed, a bitter sort of laugh,

"I'm sure all of us have more than one reason to do so. But, how about not now."

"I'm all for that." Buffy added.

"Me too."

"Me too. So, does anyone want to tell me what brought you all to Seattle Grace, if it wasn't me?"

Maybe it wasn't something she wanted to know, and after Buffy and Dawn's story and the look in Jo's eyes, it was something she really didn't want to know. But this was family; she needed to know.

 

**Part Six - Is it any Wonder?**

Izzie watched as all three of her cousins attempted to answer her question at once, none of them quite giving the truth. She lifted her hand up to stop them,

"Ok, let's try that again. Maybe one at a time. Buffy?"

"Sure, ask Buffy." Dawn muttered, Jo nodding her agreement at Dawn's annoyance. Izzie grinned, this was more normal, granted, so was the screaming.

"Come on, Iz. You know how this works."

Izzie looked at Buffy blankly.

"Sure, you and Aunt Marie never really got involved in this sort of thing, but you heard all the stories from Jo and Aunt Ellen."

"Yes. And?"

"You've not noticed anything unusual in the last few months?"

"At Seattle Grace?"

All three girls nodded.

"Seriously? In that place it would have to be something so completely normal for it to be out of place."

Buffy sighed and looked a little incredulous at her cousin,

"Well, for starters you have a balance demon hanging around and your local is part demon bar."

"We have a what? And Joe's is a what?"

"Joe's bar, it's a demon haunt, Walter deals with that kind of thing. He has no idea that we're related."

"But he knows you?"

"He knew of me, and now, since yesterday, he knows me."

"Ok, but- hold on a second, a demon?"

"Sure, Seattle Grace has it's very own balance demon, apparently the big guy knew your lot would cause trouble and sent her in."

"The big guy?"

"Demon overlord."

"Hold on, is the woman that shouted at me that she wasn't what I was looking for?" Jo asked.

"Was she incredibly perky with dark curly hair?"

Jo nodded in answer as thoughts flew through Izzie's head, _surely she didn't mean-_

"Yup."

"Then, yeah. That'd be Hallie, a.k.a. Dr. Sydney Heron."

"Seriously?"

"Hey, Iz?" Dawn perked up, "Isn't that who you were hiding from in the clinic?"

"Yes."

"Perfect."

"Perfect? How is that perfect? She's a demon. There's a demon stalking me to make sure I'm all happy!"

Dawn smirked.

"She's not allowed to play with anyone from Sunnydale."

"Ok, but I'm not from Sunnydale."

"She's also not allowed to play with anyone who has anything to do with anyone from Sunnydale. Don't you think the Slayer's cousin counts?"

"Seriously?"

***

Having sorted out that Hallie would be informed of the conflict of interest the following day the conversation moved on. Dawn sat back just taking it all in,

"So, Sydney and the demon stuff at the bar, that's what brought you all out here?"

"It's part of it. Or at least, it's all that we've sorted out so far."

_Hold on a minute, what about the ghost?_

"Buffy, what about the gh-" she stopped at her sisters glare, obviously that was something for later on. She caught Jo about to follow up on the question, more her area than theirs, and shook her head. Jo looked confused but let it drop.

"So, what's the rest?"

"You really haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary?"

"No. I don't understand what could have brought you all out here."

Dawn looked at her sister and Jo; Izzie was caught up in it, so much so that she couldn't see it.

"What? Why are you all looking like that?"

"There's something in the hospital that's causing all sorts of things and it's got you all so convinced that it's all normal that even you don't notice it."

"Seriously? There's something... doing something to us?"

"Yes, and it's dragging people in from outside. It started with you and your friends and a Dr. Shepherd and then there was another Dr. Shepherd and a Dr. Sloan."

"Hold on, that's not demonic. That's just normal relationship drama."

"Normal? Iz, it's enough to fill three seasons worth of TV and it's barely been a year. There's some sort of energy or a demon feeding off all the drama and it's getting worse and worse."

Dawn watched as a hundred emotions flittered across Izzie's face, ending in hope,

"You can stop it?"

"We might be able to. We just need to narrow it down. Find out what's causing it. Walter had a few ideas and from what Dawn's already said I have a few too. Maybe you and Jo both have something that might narrow it down further."

***

Izzie lay in bed that night, attempting to grab a few hours of sleep before her shift. Only the conversations with her cousins circled her mind preventing her from sleep. Buffy had said that this demon, whatever or wherever it was, fed on pain specifically relationship pain. It was like a fear demon she had encountered several years ago. Dawn had laughed and said she hoped Buffy could stomp on this one too.

Turning over and hitting her pillow in an attempt to get more comfortable, she tried to think of a Seattle Grace that had calmed down, the Seattle Grace Dr. Bailey talked about.

Her last thought as she drifted off was that even if they did get rid of this demon, who was to say something else wouldn't be attracted to them, it had been her and the other four under Bailey that had brought the hospital to that overlord's attention in the first place.

***

Jo lay on the grungy looking motel bed, she'd declined Dawn's offer of sharing her room, she couldn't live off their charity, she was a big girl now, on her own in the world.

How she thought she could have dealt with something this big, she didn't know. And why had Buffy stopped them talking about the ghost, she was sure that was what Dawn had been about to say. Was it something to do with Izzie?

Her phone rang, her Mom, she answered and hung up straight away. There, her Mom knew she was at the very least alive.

Five minutes later, just as she was drifting off, her phone rang again. Checking the display she saw that it was Sam Winchester. She laughed bitterly and switched off her phone.

***

As Dawn ate her breakfast of melon with peanut butter spread over it she watched as Buffy paced across the floor of their suite. Her sister was on the phone to the Council's main office. First it had been the main desk, then Xander, and then Robin and finally she was talking to Giles. Dawn had shouted her hellos to all three of the men, laughing when Buffy had told her each time to try it without a mouthful of breakfast.

"Can we do this without Willow or one of the other witches, Giles?"

Buffy nodded at whatever the answer was and looked over at Dawn a small frown covering her face,

"Do you think so?"

The frown deepened further at Giles' retort,

"Are you-, ok, fine, sorry, Giles. Of course I trust you, and her!"

This time she grabbed the notebook and pen from the table by Dawn and sat to make some notes.

"With the ginger root? Three times? The fourth bit backwards? She does?"

Passing the notebook over to Dawn she said her goodbyes and closed the phone.

"So, take a look. Giles thinks you can do the location spell, try to find this thing."

"Is it a good idea to that if we don't know what it is?"

Buffy nodded, taking a bite into her apple and chewing thoughtfully,

"Yup, Giles says there are four things this could be, the spell will find three of them. So if you don't get anything we'll know which one it is. If we do we'll be able to go and take a look. I wrote it all down. Oh, and Giles said he'd get one of the girls to put all the info on each of the demons on the server for us too."

Dawn looked down at the notebook in her hands and laughed,

"It needed the commentary? The stinky one? The one Willow did that time with the purple thing that ate your new boots?"

"Of course."

Buffy chucked the apple core into the bin and looked at her sister,

"You think you can do this?"

"Sure, but we need to be in the hospital to do it."

***

Izzie entered the hospital feeling uplifted for the first time in weeks. Things were going to get better, much better.

"Stevens?"

Izzie stifled a groan as she spotted Callie heading towards her.

"Callie? Did you need me for something?"

***

Mark Sloan watched as two hot blondes followed the kid that had been shadowing Bailey and her interns for the last two days. They looked a little too innocent, they were obviously up to something, and he made to follow them.

"Don't even think about it." The Nazi had appeared behind him.

"Is there a problem, Dr. Bailey?"

"Not if you leave them alone, there isn't. And you'll leave Stevens to her own business as well."

With that the Nazi stalked off. Something was obviously going on here, more than whatever it was that had had Addison laughing at both him and Derek in the elevator that morning.

***

Buffy had left Jo and Dawn in a basement corridor for a few minutes as she went to meet with Izzie, they had a job to do. Finding her cousin she hugged her hello and then linked their arms with a grin.

"So, Iz, you know where to find her?"

"Yup," Izzie grinned back and pointed towards the stairs, "she's right over there."

"Great."

The two girls headed in the demon's direction and caught the look of shock and confusion on her face as she noticed them.

"Hey Hallie, how's it going?"

"Summers, it's Sydney, you know that," she turned towards Izzie, "Hallie's an old nickname. And it's fine. What are you doing with-"

"Oh, you mean Izzie? That's right, you have met my cousin, haven't you?"

"Cousin."

The pair nodded, grinning.

"No. No. Nononononononononono."

"Yes."

"But, she can't, I mean-"

"She can and she is and you know the rules Hallie. You're not allowed to play with her."

"We'll see about this!" Hallie shouted as her demonic visage flickered across her face.

"Ew! Gross, I think you need to make an appointment with Sloan."

 

**Part Seven - The Time is Now**

Dawn sat inside of the chalked out circle, Jo standing, fidgeting, to her left, waiting for Buffy to get back. How long did it take to tell a demon they were breaking the rules?

She sighed in relief, and Jo stood straight, as Buffy rounded the corner and entered their section of the basement.

"Sorry, guys. I was just helping Iz avoid Callie, again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, she practically jumped on her the minute she got here this morning and then again once we'd sent Hallie off to whine at D'Hoffryn. Seriously, that girl needs to have some confidence in the man she chose to marry..."

Dawn watched as Buffy drifted off, something occurring to her sister, the same something that Dawn had already wondered the night before.

"What?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing to worry about, Jo. Are you guys ready to do this?"

"What? No trying to keep us out of this?"

"One, if I was gonna do that, Jo, I'd have done it already. And, two, it's been years since I've stopped Dawn from tagging along, why would I stop you?"

"Uh-"

"Exactly. You need to have that talk with Dawnie later."

"Talk?" Dawn asked, wondering what her sister had signed her up for this time, not that it would be a bother to have some just her and Jo time, without the threat of a demon hanging over their heads.

"Yeah, the 'how to deal with overbearing family and friends' talk."

"Ah, that one," she sought a glance at a worried looking Jo and grinned, "sure, that one's a good one."

"So," Jo started, "We ready?"

"Yup, Buffy just needs to get into position and stop yapping and then we can get going."

"Hey!"

***

Mark Sloan headed down the stairs he'd last seen Summers on; silently cursing the Nazi and her super stalking skills, she'd known exactly what he'd been doing and had only lost him when O'Malley had come running up with whatever the dilemma of the day was. He rounded the corner as quietly as he could and came to a stunned stop.

Summers was sitting on the ground, a hot blonde standing on either side. That wasn't the odd part, no, that would be the gun in the hand of one girl or the knife in the hand of the other. Or, it could be the purple flashing lights in front of Summers. The purple flashing lights with no obvious source.

Stifling a gasp, he stepped back so as not to be seen and watched in awe as the girls suddenly sprang into action.

***

Jo stood, alert, at Dawn's side as her younger cousin spoke the words of the spell, waving her hands around in odd patterns. Buffy stood on the other side, just as alert, holding a knife, the twin of which she'd offered to Jo. Jo had declined; her Dad's knife was within her grasp if it the gun became useless.

She noticed, a few seconds after Buffy shifted in that direction, that one of the doctors was hiding around the corner. There was nothing they could do about it now; the spell was in motion. Hopefully he'd get what her cousins termed 'Sunnydale Syndrome'. If not, well, they'd do something.

Suddenly the locating spell did more locate, it found and brought.

"Uh-"

"Well," Buffy laughed as she raised her knife, "I guess that knocks option number one of the list. How are we for numbers two, three and four?"

Option one meant that her gun was now mostly likely useless, she holstered it and reached for her knife as Dawn answered.

"That depends. Are it's horns teal or turquoise?"

"Hmm, not sure. What do you think, Jo?"

"Don't you think we should be quicker about killing it?"

"Not so much, it might be a few inches taller than it's cousin, but it's harder to kill. So, teal or turquoise?"

"I vote teal." Dawn answered.

"Me too." Jo sighed.

"Fine, that crosses off three. So, that tail; what shade of green is it?"

"Uh, kind of like those mushy peas Giles likes."

"So, that'd make it number two, right?"

"Yup, so that'd be cut off it's left horn and then stomp on it."

Jo had a sudden thought,

"Uh, guys, why is it just standing there, I mean it's not trying to stop us at all."

"Huh, weird. Oh, well, we'll still kill it."

The small demon turned it's head to look in the slayer's direction and stuck out it's tongue.

"Ew. Lovely. But, that's not going to stop me."

The demon stomped it's foot.

"Really not working."

As Buffy reached to pick it up and slice of it's horn it started kicking it's feet.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

"Buffy, stop playing and just do it."

"Fine, Jo you get to stomp, I like these shoes too much."

"Really?"

"Yeah, do you realise how much they cost?"

"No, I mean-"

"I know what you meant." Buffy answered as she finally removed the demons horn. "Here you go." She put the little demon back on the floor, where Jo quickly stomped on it.

"Look, your first demon."

"Cool."

Dawn looked up and Jo remembered their snooper,

"Hey, Dr. Sloan?"

***

Izzie was rushing through the halls trying to hide from Callie, again, and find Dr. Bailey at the same time.

"Iz?"

"Busy, Alex. Busy."

"Fine."

She kept going, ignoring the hurt tone in Alex's voice. Finally she spotted Dr. Bailey, talking to Callie.

"Stevens."

"Dr. Torres."

"Can I have a word?"

"No. I need her to run an errand for me. Personal things on personal time."

Bailey shooed Callie off and turned back towards Izzie,

"Now, you owe me, Stevens. What do you need?"

"Uh, I need time to-"

"To go and find out if your cousins got the job done?"

"Yes."

"You might also want to see if Sloan caught them at it, I lost him earlier."

***

Buffy stopped herself from laughing as Dr. 'call me, Mark' Sloan attempted to flirt with her and Dawn and Jo all at once. He'd bizarrely gotten over the shock of the demon quite quickly, forgoing it for the hot chicks fighting thing. He was now busy asking them all sorts of questions,

"So, are there any demons who want some plastic surgery doing?"

Was the latest, asked as Izzie finally rounded the corner,

"Seriously?"

"Stevens? What are you doing here? And yes, seriously."

"Checking that they got the job done, you did right?"

"Yup."

"And, you, plastic surgery for demons?"

"What's the problem with that, Iz? You were suggesting it for Hallie a half hour ago."

"Yeah, but that was a joke."

"Hallie?" Sloan asked, sensing a customer already.

"Dr. Heron."

"Heron's a demon?"

"Yup."

"But she looks normal."

"That'd be her human face."

"Oh, so no need for surgery, then?"

***

Having gotten rid of Sloan, cleaned the floor of chalk and demon guts and dodged Callie Torres to get out of the hospital, the four cousins were now back in the Summers' suite.

"So, the demon's gone, now, seriously?"

"Yup, it is, Iz."

All four snorted at the old joke.

"So, everything's going to be normal again?"

"You'll have to see how it works. There could be stuff set in motion that even killing the demon didn't stop. Also, the demon being gone might have people doing drastic things in order to get back to where they needed to be?"

"Drastic? That doesn't sound good, Dawn."

"Well, it won't kill anybody, I just meant stuff like people who got pulled in that would have done or gone elsewhere would probably do that now. Or, maybe to save stuff from the things caused by the demon people will do stuff that seems crazy for now, but it'll settle down soon enough."

"Soon enough? How soon is soon enough?"

"Uh, could be weeks, could be months?"

"Months? Seriously?"

"Seriously." Jo, Dawn and Buffy answered, all bursting into giggles.

Calming down a thought occurred to Izzie,

"Does that mean you guys will all be going then?"

Dawn and Buffy looked at each other,

"No." Buffy answered. "Definitely not, we just found you guys again. We can stay a while."


End file.
